For the second time in a matter of months, residents on Dilworth Mountain were surprised to see a hot air balloon land mere metres from their homes.

While the balloon landed safely in the Cassiar area of Dilworth and no one was injured, it was still a surprise to local residents.

“This balloon landed in the middle of a street…narrowly missing a house and hitting a tree or two,” says Tom Lang. “The crew and the great neighbours bounced the basket into the middle of the street, where they tipped the basket and the pilot bailed out.”

The boil-water notice for customers on the Beaver Lake water system has been downgraded to a water quality advisory.

According to Interior Health, recent testing and monitoring has shown water quality has improved and disinfection (chlorine) levels have recovered.

Interior Health recommends that children, the elderly, people with weakened immune systems and anyone seeking additional protection drink boiled water or a safe alternative until further notice.

Turbidity (water clarity) fluctuates on the Beaver Lake source and times may exceed 1 NTU.

A boil-water notice has been issued in Lake Country for customers on the Beaver Lake water system.

The District of Lake Country and Interior Health issued the notice due to a malfunction on the automatic chlorination system. This has resulted in a loss of disinfection.

It is recommended that all customers in the affected area drink boiled water or a safe alternative.

Until further notice, water intended for the following uses should be boiled for one minute:

drinking

washing fruits and vegetables

making beverages or ice

brushing teeth

Boiled water should then be refrigerated in a clean, covered container. Customers could also choose to use bottled or distilled water.

Crews are flushing the system and collecting additional water samples to verify water quality. A notification will be issued when water quality has improved, utility Supt. Mike Mitchell said in a media release.

Electricity will cost more for Okanagan customers of FortisBC, starting Saturday.

Fortis has completed its annual rate review with the B.C. Utilities Commission and received approval for an increase of 1.6 per cent.

Fortis said in a statement the increase is necessary to allow upgrades and improvements to the electrical system, and to purchase added capacity.

“Since 2004, FortisBC has invested over $1 billion in safety and reliability upgrades, so this is a continuation of that,” said Michael Allison, manager of corporate communications for the utility. “It’s essentially infrastructure, capacity purchase agreements and things to ensure, long term, our customers’ service integrity is maintained.”

The additional capacity is needed to accommodate peak usage in winter, according to Allison.

He said the infrastructure the increase pays for does not include smart meters.

“Advanced meters are actually going to pay for themselves,” he said.

Allison said the $51-million program will pay for itself by eliminating the need for employees to go door to door to check meters, and by helping to locate outages quickly and easily.

In addition to the new increase, a 3.5 per cent interim increase from Jan. 1 was made permanent.

Having the two increases within one year is unusual, but Allison said that's because Fortis and the BCUC recently changed their rate-making structure.

“Typically, we would be able to wrap up all the rates in the fall of 2014 and have that ready for Jan. 1,” Allison said. “Since we were working with the B.C. Utilities Commission on this regulatory structure, that was delayed and so an interim rate change was put in.”

Kelowna-Lake Country MP Ron Cannan made the announcement on the Mission Creek Greenway Friday morning. It was the latest in a series of funding announcements by Cannan this week ahead of an anticipated election call on the weekend.

The federal funding was made possible through the Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnerships Program.

The city will receive funds on a matching basis, however, it must raise a similar amount first, through private, non-government means.

Agriculture and environment manager Todd Cashin said the city has already raised more than half the $249,000.

The federal grant was applied for by the Central Okanagan Land Trust.

Cashin said the city will use the funds to begin work on altering the flow of the lower sections of Mission Creek.

Mayor Colin Basran said the city hopes to begin work in the fall.

"Work will include setting back the dykes to widen the creek, re-establishing the flood plain, restoring the creek bank and planting riparian vegetation, creating habitat for species at risk, improving drainage for agricultural land," said Basran.

"We will continue to work with stakeholders to secure funding, acquire property, relocate and upgrade the dyke along Mission Creek."

Back in the 1950s, sections of the creek were channelized and diked to prevent flooding. It resulted in a loss of 80 per cent of its spawning habitat and more than 25 per cent of its length.

At one time, between Okanagan Lake and Casorso Bridge, Mission Creek was 60 to 80 metres wide and about 30 kilometres long.

The creek now averages 31 metres in width and is about 11 kilometres in length.

Tree Brewing was taken over by chefs Thursday afternoon to hype the upcoming the Ktown Showdown barbecue competition.

The competition takes place Aug. 22 and pits 10 local chefs against each other for barbecue bragging rights. All chefs will have to use the same cut of meat, which was revealed Thursday as pulled-pork. Now, they can get to work on their recipes.

Last year’s champion, Justin Best, represents the new BNA Brewing Co. & Eatery, after winning with Hotel Eldorado last year. He demo'd his own take on a Chinese barbecue pork pastry on Thursday, but said he would be switching it up for the actual competition.

Best said the chef community in Kelowna is close, and, after working all over Canada, he has no plans to leave.

Chef Beth Ross represented the Delta Grand Okanagan Resort. She's lived in Kelowna for nine months and thinks events like the Ktown Showdown are great to bring local chefs together.

“We’ll chit-chat with the other chefs and build connections that way – and build friendships and talk about the business,” Ross said. “It’s good to kind of know who’s out there, because there’s always new restaurants opening up.”

The competition takes place at the Kelowna Curling Club. Each chef’s dish will be paired with a craft beer from B.C. There will also be a car show and live music.

The Facebook group Sh*t Parkers of Kelowna, which posts submitted pictures of bad and inconsiderate parking jobs, has seen increased activity so far this summer. There were 21 posts in July and 31 in June, compared to the mid-teens in spring.

One Castanet reader sent in a picture of a lime green Dodge Challenger double-parked in the Home Depot parking lot on Wednesday.

“Is this how people park in Kelowna? Really?” he wrote.

Another Kelowna resident posted a picture to Facebook on Thursday of a vehicle parked outside his apartment building. The picture shows a red pickup that parked within a hair's breadth of the photographer's Mustang. He had some choice words for the driver of the pickup on the post that can’t be repeated here.

Meanwhile, the Facebook page has 5,796 likes as of July 30. Comments on the page range from hostile to humourous.

“I wish every parking lot had a guy with a forklift to deal with cars like this and keep the lot neat and tidy,” one group member wrote.